The Kazekage's Spitfire Bride
by tiny.sakura
Summary: The Kazekage had quite a bit on his plate, with trying to stop the upcoming of another war was one thing. The proposed solution? It was utter madness! To swoon the Hokage's only daughter was no small feat, especially since she had suitors lined out the door. He had heard rumors about her ruthless and violent nature. If they were true, she was gonna be one hell of a spitfire indeed.
1. It's Just Beginning

**Summary: The Kazekage had quite a bit on his plate, trying to stop an upcoming of another war was one thing. The proposed solution? Utter madness! To swoon the Hokage's only daughter was no small feat, especially since she had suitors lined out the door. He had heard rumors about her ruthless nature. If true, she was gonna be one hell of a spitfire.**

* * *

Gaara sighed and picked up and read the scroll he had received earlier this morning in a haste. It held the absolute worst news that could have ever befallen him. An arranged engagement. For the sake of his village, of course, but an engagement nonetheless. He always had the option to turn her away as he did the four others before her... But if he turned down this particular one then nothing but a ruthless war would take place in its stead.

He had loved his country, his people, and his colleagues to a very high extent. But to love another person? Someone whom he had no connection with other than they were both offerings to a peace treaty? He had even a hard time connecting to the elders of his own village as he had been quite the opposite of popular during his early years of life. He had made all but one friend during that time, and she had since been long gone. Sold to another village no less.

It had been his one friend he had made. She had defended him against all odds when he was young. He had no control over the monster inside of him yet she managed to see through it entirely. They had even formed a blood pact. It was all but silly nonsense to young children. The moment he realized that she would never return to him he had gone on a killing rampage. Oh yes, that was the monster inside of him's doing.

Over the years he had tried to search for her in the best and only way he could. He tried to send bits and pieces of his sand hidden in cargo that traveled in and out of the villages nearby. However, they had always returned to him empty-handed. There was no such more than a lock of hair she had left behind for him. The demon inside of him would never truly settle until he had found her and claimed her as his own. That would be the only way to put the monster as ease for good.

Yes, the demon had calmed quite considerably over the years thanks to a blond boy he had met and tried to kill when he was younger. He had no one to blame but himself for why the monster broke loose to the extent of killing many people during those chunnin exams. The demon poured out of him in almost a primal rage, most likely the cause of the exam stress and battles, not to mention, the loss of his father. A cruel man he was, but nonetheless, his father.

That was the day he forced the cursed demon to stay at bay. He knew he had to make himself better. All the hidden villages had been reluctant when he had come into power. Hell, his own damn village feared for their lives constantly. It had been the monster's fault, not his own. He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs at them to trust them. He knew better than that, you could not force someone to trust you. Not even if you were their new Kazekage.

From time to time he still thought about the moments he shared with that young girl from his past. If he was to call anything from his life 'love' then it was probably what he had felt about her. He could recognize her anywhere, he constantly reminded himself. If he had found his old love? He would dump that dumb princess in a heartbeat. Yet, he could not. The truth was, that once she was sold, she had probably been made into a child prostitute and held captive in some whore house. Those thoughts were the ones that angered him the most. He knew that she was probably long dead by now, anyway. It hurt, but it was the most likely truth.

The redhead frowned and tried to read the scroll once more, as his mind had run off on a tangent.

It read:

 _ **Dear Little Brother,**_

 _ **Be forewarned, this is not something to take lightly. The tension between our lovely Wind Nation and Fire Nation must come to halt immediately. War is about to break loose and we cannot afford to have any more of our men killed in action. As the I'm your sister, and you're T**_ _ **he Kazekage,**_ _**I have offered a deal with Fire Nation that should keep the peace not only between our hidden villages but of all the hidden villages. You**_ _ **must**_ _**accept this last girl to be**_ _ **your bride**_ _ **, as you have so rudely denounced all of the other women they have offered. Our village's safety is on the line here,**_ _ **little**_ _**brother. The Hokage's**_ _ **only daughter**_ _**is the last person they will offer and if it doesn't work out... then that's the end of our treaty with the village of the hidden leaf. You must**_ _ **accept her**_ _**and make sure that**_ _ **she accepts you**_ _**as well. The fate of our nation is now in the hands of your love life. So please, try to play nice, okay?**_

 _ **Love your big sis,**_

 _ **Temari**_

 _ **PS: I have included a small checklist of what must happen between the two of you to make sure that she falls in**_ _ **love**_ _**with you! Let them happen**_ _ **in order**_ _ **! Got it? Cool!**_

A cough came from the Kazekage's throat as he read the letter once more,' _That's utter nonsense. I'm the Kazekage for god sakes, I do not need others to smile at me and love me, I only need them to respect me. If she does not respect me then the deal is off.'_ Beneath his unruly red hair, the Kazekage's brain started to fry itself. He had to make a girl he had never met fall in love with him.

Yes, many girls within the village had fallen for him since he had taken over his cruel father's place, but he could not marry one of them. There were simply his people. Besides, his heart had belonged to his old friend from long ago either way. Yet, it wasn't as if he thought less of them, his citizens, that was definitely not the case. His villagers were kind souls, well, they had turned kind after he proved them wrong. But there was much more to that story and no one wanted to relive the past, especially him. The monster within him had taken a back seat to every emotion as well as every motion of his. It had better stay that way, for everyone's sake.

But how the hell was he supposed to swoon a girl? _Girl_?... How old was she even? Was she far too young for himself? Was she much more his senior? That could seem ridiculous either way, although not something one would put passed the elders of either counsel. If this "girl" was anything like her mother then she sure as hell would be a spitfire. That would be even more hellish than any of the other previous women they have sent. No real woman of value had been sent, he could've argued. No one from an exclusive clan, or a clan of high power, or even a talented woman of some sorts, to put it nicely.

The Fire Nation had been known to put women into action, much more forward-thinking than any of the other hidden villages. They all came around eventually, some quicker than others, of course. No, but this hidden village had been known to have prize female ninja. The one of highest rank had obviously gone to their Hokage, the next to her daughter as some legends had told.

To be exact, the Bingo book had precisely put her, Princess Senju, in as an S-ranked ninja. The highest ever given a woman, besides her own mother. Those were the only two women to have ever been ranked so high, the next two women had been placed as A-ranked at best. It was beyond a small feat for a woman to even be a ninja, but to be ranked so dangerously? It was purely insane. Although, neither had rumors of bragging, except for the single one about the older Senju from her drunken past.

"Gaara?" called a strong male voice from the other side of the door. It was deep, but not in a threatening way. Not much deeper than the Kazekage's own voice. Yet, it held a light and airy tone to it, as if there was always some hints of fun laced between the vocal chords.

A grunt could be heard from the other side of the door, signaling permission to enter. The door opened quickly and shut behind the person as the moved towards the desk. Gaara, the Kazekage, looked up from his "letter of advice" that had been shoved into his hands by his sister not only an hour before their arrival. "What is it?"

The tall male scratched his brown hair as a sign of condolence for their older sibling's actions. "I know she wrote you some sort of dating thing," the man said in a softer tone. Kankuro, the Kazekage's older brother sighed heavily and leaned against the nearest wall with his arms crossed. He was clearly upset about his younger brother's part in this treaty.

They both knew that neither of them could change anything that had already been done. Hell, they wished they could change the whole damn thing. Albeit, both for separate reasons, but both of them, nonetheless. The purple face paint on the older male's cheeks stood out in a bright contrast to his black clothing and dark colored hair. He tried to speak again but was cut off by his younger brother's voice.

"It must be done," came the monotone reply. It was true that nothing could change it, not even the girl had the power to put up much of a fight, although they had no idea if she even wanted to. She might not have even of known of the arrangement.

"Do you want to know more about her, at least?" He at least could try to provide his brother with some details about the woman that had been chosen for him, It was the least he could do, as he was not put in such a predicament himself.

If he had chosen to show more emotion than Gaara would've scoffed at his brother's foolish attempt to draw him into her mystery. Seeing as he had no other choice than to at least learn about her to try and make the best of their current situation, he reluctantly agreed. "Hn," he grunted.

"Her name is Sakura," Kankuro began. He didn't know herself personally either, which was something he did not want to admit. He had at least heard of the other 'choices' for his leader. He searched for something to follow that plain statement with ease, yet nothing came to mind.

Gaara released a small sigh, maybe his brother was just as clueless as he. His seafoam eyes shut close in concentration, maybe he could wish the situation away. He actually scoffed this time, ' _as if.'_

"I heard that she can shatter mountains and rocks with her single fist."

Gaara's eyes twitched open, he had never heard of such nonsense. That was purely unheard of. The redhead had to strongly resist the urge to roll his eyes.

"I've actually seen the damage she had caused," the older of the two confessed.

Kankuro sighed at the memory. They had been traveling towards fire country and noticed a gigantic crater in the earth which all of his men had found astonishing as well. It appeared, at the time, that they had just missed the fearsome woman by a few minutes as she was attacked while gathering medicinal herbs. Her attackers remained face down inside the crevice covered in blood. It took no genius to know that they were dead. He still cringed at the memory of the sight.

The youngest sibling looked at the middle child with an invisible eyebrow raised. Still impossible, he believed. Although he had never seen it for himself, so he could at least afford her with a highlighted rumor. "And…?" he was beginning to grow impatient.

"She's also the most talented medic in all of Fire Country, it's said that she surpassed even her own mother."

 _That_ was something to take notice of. He had heard of the legendary Tsunade Senju's healing abilities, she was the second person to create the revered Yin Seal, it was said to keep the user alive through the impossible of death-defying feats. There was a confirmation of her daughter's activation of the same seal. If she could create the seal, then maybe it was possible that she could crush stone with her bare hands.

"She's also been rumored to have hundreds of men pining for her love and attention," Kankuro snickered. "At least you two would have _that_ in common."

Gaara felt his left eye twitch full of irritation. Before he could even say anything to his brother a quick and hurried knock befell upon the door to his office and was swung open in a haste.

The two boys turned towards their older sister in confusion of her sudden outburst. She was panting and had her hand still clutching the doorknob strongly. "They're here." the blonde blurts out. "I got the days mixed up, we have to go to the gates now or they'll be greeted by the guards and not us!"

The Kazekage clenched his teeth in frustration of his sister's untimely announcement as well as her inaccurate message from before. They were still supposed to have another three hours according to her first announcement of their arrival. He stood up and body flickered towards the gate, hoping to at least make a good impression.

The fate of the hidden villages were in the hands of the two young people. If this were to be complicated, things could get ugly.

Real quick too.

* * *

 **Hey, boos! It's Tiny back in action! This story will be updated occasionally and will, hopefully, be a quick one. Although, I fear that it won't be. However, I shouldn't put too much pressure on myself. This one will go at a moderate pace between our two lovebirds and will have occasional flashbacks. I really hope you guys like this story and don't kill me when I don't update frequently.**

 **On a separate note,** **The Change is being put on hiatus** **until I can revise the chapters and provide more clarity in my writing, as it was my first story since I came back on this site.**

 **On another separate note, my short series of a KakaSaku sugar daddy fic is almost done being written and will come out soon. I'm writing the fic out fully so I can update it like a normal person.**

 **Other than that, I hope y'all are doing well and please keep my hope up, guys. I suffer soooo much from writer's block that it just hurts my soul. I'm actually supposed to be doing training right now, so shh! Don't tell on me!**

 **As always…**

 **xoxo,**

 **Tiny.**


	2. The Spitfire Arrives

**Summary: The Kazekage had quite a bit on his plate, trying to stop an upcoming of another war was one thing. The proposed solution? Utter madness! To swoon the Hokage's only daughter was no small feat, especially since she had suitors lined out the door. He had heard rumors about her ruthless nature. If true, she was gonna be one hell of a spitfire.**

* * *

Gaara walked into his office to start the day. Everything had to go smoothly, he had to make sure of it. Sakura Senju had one hell of a reputation, a strong kunoichi ranked with S-Class criminals, a true beauty that many men were after, a genius, a medical prodigy, and of course, her fiery temper. He had dealt with the current Konoha Hokage and had a run-in with her temper when something in her village became messy during a meeting, if her daughter was anything like that then she could mean a lot of trouble for their upcoming marriage. His siblings knew about the marriage alliance and how it would ease tensions between the two Nations.

The redhead found a small note on top of his relatively clean desk. He barely slept with the one-tailed beast inside of him so getting paperwork done was no problem. He did wonder, however, if he could ever get a good night's rest. Perhaps he should check out the medical department within his village to see if they had anything. It might help the marriage flow smoothly, he wondered to himself.

The young Kazekage sat down in his large chair and opened the letter carefully, he immediately recognized his older sister's handwriting. His sea foam orbs read over the letter and left to leave towards the entrance to his home, he would meet her soon.

 ** _Dear Little Brother,_**

 ** _I left the following rules or checklist if you wish to call it so, to help you gain her love and trust, thus saving all of us from another cruel war. You and I both know we cannot afford another war, we are already low on men, low on medics, as well as money. An alliance with Konoha is the best chance we have for moving towards a positive future. I have attached the following three rules, and the rest of the rules will be given to you so long as she stays here… I pray you find a way to make this work._**

 ** _Love your big sis,_**

 ** _Temari_**

 ** _Rule 1: Make a good first impression._**

 ** _Rule 2: Give a compliment._**

 ** _Rule 3: Shake her hand._**

The moment Gaara had arrived at the palace entrance they were nowhere to be seen. Hell, even some of the guards were missing, thus signaling that their guests had arrived. But where were they? None of the Suna guards had notified him of their arrival. He could suppose that they had yet to meet, as it was a custom for guards to go out further into the desert and meet important people farther from the entrance of his beloved village. Perhaps they had yet to arrive, or their messenger bird had yet to come in. It could be argued that either one of these options was currently happening. For everyone's sake, he prayed it was the latter.

XOXOXO

"Sakura Senju?" called out a gruff voice. His strong arms were crossed and he had a heavy beige coat on which covered the majority of his body from the harsh rays of the sun. His Suna forehead protector shone brightly and shot a glare in the face of a particular animal hidden in between pink locks. The animal hissed and bore its teeth.

"Yes," a feminine voice rang out. Although her face was hidden under the hood of her long dusty rose trench coat, there was no mistake in the strength laced in her one-word reply. Sakura turned her head slightly and cooed at the animal on her shoulders. Her personal bodyguard rarely left her person, even in his animal form, and rarely left her side from the constant attacks from varied parties all seeking to hurt the princess.

He, truly, had saved her on more than a few occasions. Sakura, although her reputation for violence and quick-thinking agility, had a habit of over-doing herself and was still prone to fainting. That fact was clearly left out of any bingo book for no one outside her immediate friend group knew. She had gotten past those days, thankfully.

But the vulnerability of those rare occasions in the past left her unable to protect herself, leaving her to rely on her bodyguard. Of course, her team never wanted to leave her side either, as she was the glue that held them together through their toughest times and their wonderful victories.

So her shadow, as she would call it, often stayed in his animal henge to give off the feeling that she could walk freely throughout the roughest areas. It made her a great decoy for stealth missions as she looked like a young child still... if her clothes were baggy enough. Besides, who could look at a tiny black and white ferret with beady black eyes and think it could be a deadly ninja? The mere idea baffled people.

The sound of a throat clearing caused the woman to fully turn her head back towards the lone guard before her. He still couldn't see her eyes as he can only see the bottom half of her face and a few strands of hair that he couldn't discriminate the color of. "The Kazekage is expecting us."

His head turned back towards the village and he stuck his thumb out towards the tower behind him to signal that that was their destination. "He is waiting at the tower for your arrival," He turned on his heel and trekked back towards Suna without regarding whether or not they were going to move anytime soon. They would have to come eventually, he reasoned to himself.

A heavy sigh came from a man who traveled with Sakura. He was taller than her, for sure, seeing as Princess Sakura's isn't even five and a half feet tall. "Troublesome," he mumbled under his breath. He placed a hand on her shoulder and began to follow the guard towards the city he would stay in while his princess could grow accustomed to her new environment.

"C'mon, Sakura-chan. I can't wait to see Gaara again!" urged a hyperactive blond boy with whiskered cheeks. He half hugged his best friend and teammate and left his right arm around her shoulder in a protective manner. "This'll be fun! I can't believe you've never met him, I mean, it feels like every mission we go on lately is without you…" he grimaced as those words fell out of his mouth before he could take them back. He tried to make up for his poor word choice, "But hey, I'm getting ahead of myself! This is-"

"Shut up, Dobe." A deep voice came from Sakura's right side. "Sakura's going to be fine. It's just a quick trip anyways." A heavy sigh came from the third member of her team, Sasuke Uchiha. His usual brooding tone for speaking was gone as this was a diplomatic mission. Although he couldn't put a finger on what was diplomatic about it.

He had seen his pink haired teammate place a highly official scroll into her pack before leaving when he had stopped by her apartment before departing to Suna. If it was a simple scroll the homage wanted to send then he could've gone himself. Why did five Konoha ninja have to transport it in the first place?

There was a jonin, future Hokage, two Anbu and whatever the hell Sakura was ranked as of lately. Now that he thought about it, he had heard that Sakura had gotten a promotion of some sort while he and Naruto we're away on their last mission... had none of them ever brought it up? For fuck's sake, he heard this from his brother who was talking to their mother in the kitchen. When Itachi and Sakura had gotten close he would never know, not that he cared anyway, not that it kept him up some nights, no. Of course not.

The only one missing was Kakashi-sensei and it would've been a full team Kakashi trip, nonetheless, it was a team seven trip either way. For that, they could all be thankful for.

A loud whining sound came from the loud mouth blonde, the most vocal of the team. "That's true. But at least all of us get to go on another trip as team seven!" He turned back towards the girl in between the two taller men. "Ne, Sakura-chan, what do you want to do when we get back to Konoha? We need to celebrate going on our first diplomatic mission!"

The younger Uchiha brother resisted the urge to roll his eyes and summoned a small surge of lightning chakra in his fingertips and pressed it to Sakura's neck and the fake Sakura poofed into thin air. "Naruto, you idiot," he grumbled.

The taller of the two boys ran forward at an almost alarming speed to try and catch up to his female teammate, who had slipped past the two of them without either of them noticing for at least some time since they arrived in Suna. He cursed under his breath and scanned the area with his eye doujutsu.

XOXOXO

The pink haired princess had put up quite a fight coming, to Suna to begin with, she was next to the strongest kunoichi in all of the 5 nations, next to her mother of course, although many could argue that she had surpassed her quite some time ago. Like hell, she would agree to marry someone she had only met once! And who tried to kill her no less! Did anyone even remember that? It was bad enough that most people wanted her for their clans, for the daimyo's sons, and now for a peace treaty? After some thought, she knew that this was the only answer to solidify the treaty between the Fire and Wind Nations.

Truthfully, she wasn't Tsunade's biological daughter, her pseudo-mother had taken her in years after the massacre of her own clan which had left the young 8-year-old the sole survivor. It wasn't something that haunted her, especially the fact that it remained a mystery who had held a grudge against the family enough to kill them. They were a non-ninja family as both her parents left after graduating the academy to pursue other interests. For Peet's sake, they owned a bakery, no less.

But no one could imagine losing their whole family like that, even though Naruto who had lost his father in a senseless war that had trapped that damn demon inside of him, had lost both parents. And he had made peace with that. In truth, he had made many connections in the past simply because of who he is and given his joyous personality, that helped a lot as well. Hell, he had even pulled his Sakura-chan out of her downward spiral even before they were placed on the same team.

Putting the sole Haruno, the second Uchiha Prince, and everyone's beloved Kyuubi was almost a pure genius move. They balanced out each other in the exact way that everyone needed. While Naruto and Sasuke competed like there was no tomorrow, Sakura was there to soothe out the roughness. Even Sai was pulled out of his shell when he was placed on their team. Sakura brought out the love that everyone hid inside themselves and would rarely show. She was special that way, and if you asked anyone in the village they would wholeheartedly agree.

Although, there was that temper she had… most of her team had experienced it once a week as it was almost like a gift bestowed upon her by her adoptive mother. Sakura was no avenger, her heart was too weak for that, that weakness slowed down much of her career when she was younger. Her first chunin exams went terribly, they made it up to the forest of death without a hitch thanks to her two boys, she had been knocked unconscious by her rival at the time, Yamanaka Ino, as was her opponent. During the training for the final exam, Sasuke had left the village as did her Naruto-kun. Even after the exam had been postponed due to the war breaking out, both her boys had left again. Kakashi-sensei had returned to Anbu and would not train her no matter how much she bothered him. In an act of desperation, she sought out the newest Hokage and poured her heart out in all of her training and through all her success.

Starting that moment, she had decided that she would make a name for herself and no one would leave her ever again. Her new mom and sister, Tsunade and Shizune, trained her until her arms and legs gave out every day for three years. There was no stopping her training and she often found herself beating Tsunade in arrival times, length of commitment, and even drinking games. Tsunade would agree to all except the last… she always found herself blackout drunk at the end and it would be Shizune who told her of her losses against her star pupil.

She had made friends along the way during all her training at the hospital and on the training fields. Hell, she sought out help and guidance in more than one mother figure as Kushina Uzumaki had found her crying in an alleyway one day and Mikoto Uchiha had found her two weeks later crying at her parent's gravestones. Her boys had become her family so easily that she felt peace and clarity when she began to know their families as well.

She had known this marriage alliance was going to happen for quite some time. The sole time she had met her future husband and his family were at the exact chunin exams where she had failed miserably. But she was better now, stronger, held an air of confidence that couldn't be taken away until her dying breath came. With the purple diamond on her large forehead, all the world could see how strong she had become.

She was no force to be toyed with, she had surpassed her mother and was well on her way to becoming on par with Sasuke and Naruto, although many would argue that she already was. To Sakura, enough would never be enough. She would push herself and train herself to become a better medic, shinobi, and person in general. But now? She had to be a diplomat from her home and make a whole new life in the middle of the fucking desert! Whoever thought of this ridiculousness should be put in their place.

XOXOXO

Naruto and Sasuke appeared before the village gates but could not feel her chakra signature anywhere. Even Sasuke had a hard time finding her, although neither could deny that they hadn't been around her as frequently. The only person who had been around her recently was either back at home, in Konoha, or her personal bodyguard who never left her side. If anything, they should find him instead. The two spoke to the village gate guards so they could alert the Kazekage that they had arrived although their own lazy cloud-gazer beat them to it.

Grunting, Sasuke told his blond teammate that he would meet him at the Kazekage palace and 'find Sakura before she does something idiotic'. The dark-haired man followed the guards' instructions on how to get to the palace and shoved his hands in his pockets, grumbling about how their sole female teammate could cause such trouble. If anyone overheard, they could accuse him of sounding like the Nara who rounded out their group.

Naruto stretched his arms above his head and yawned widely. They made it quite quickly but with Sakura missing, it would be more of a pain to find her without any clue as to where she had gone. The whiskered teen's eyes shot open at the sudden realization, he had given her a hairpin laced with his chakra from his father's secret jutsu.

A quick hand sign later he found himself clinging to his pink haired best friend as she dangled upside down from a balcony facing an unknown person's bedroom window from the Kazekage tower. "Ahh! Sakura-chan!"

Said girl sighed heavily and sent a glare towards her makeshift brother as he settled on hanging upside down with her. "Naruto-kun, you're going to scare her to death." Her emerald eyes never left the window of her target's house.

"Uhh Sakura-Chan," the whiskered boy began, "whose house is this, anyway?" His eyes followed her line of sight and stared at the humble house quizzically. He noted how the citizens of Suna didn't seem to notice their appearance and the oddness of the couple to be perched on the underside of a balcony on the Kazekage palace, no less!

The blond boy scratched his cheek when he was met with silence. "Ne," he nudged the woman next to him, "I think we're supposed to meet Gaara now." He turned to face her and noticed black eyes staring back at him from the animal in her arms. How the hell did she get away with keeping him in the guise of a ferret to begin with?

A soft sigh came from the soon-to-be bride, "let's go Naruto-kun." Sakura and Naruto disappeared from the outside of the Kazekage tower hand in hand, knowing that this would be one of the last times she could be like this with her pseudo-brother from a long time. He did not know the purpose of this trip, neither did any of her other teammates, and she'd be in trouble if she didn't tell them first. Only the tiny creature in her arms knew why they traveled so far. That, and her mother.

The next few days we're going to be shit, and she'd be in the doghouse for this damned secret.

* * *

 **BOOP BOOP. Happy new year! It's 1:30am here and I'm beyond tired. But I missed you guys. I'm gonna be kind of crazy with updates, so please don't make me feel bad, I just have a full-time school schedule, and two part time jobs. So things are crazy! Thank goodness one of them is a remote job so it's a little bit easier. But it takes place at crazy hours...ahh! Just know that I love you guys like there's no tomorrow! Here's to my first update of the new year!**


	3. Keep On Prayin'

**Summary: The Kazekage had quite a bit on his plate, trying to stop an upcoming of another war was one thing. The proposed solution? Utter madness! To swoon the Hokage's only daughter was no small feat, especially since she had suitors lined out the door. He had heard rumors about her ruthless nature. If true, she was gonna be one hell of a spitfire.**

* * *

"Sakura Senju?" a gruff voice called out. He was quite a sightly man, muscular arms coated with scars, an eye patch over his left eye, and a tall stature that was even taller than her boys' height. She was simply a shrimp compared to this giant man. Hell, if he was covered in hair she could claim that she saw Bigfoot with her own emerald eyes. That was definitely a joke saved for another time.

A cough snapped her out of her thoughts of the ugly mythical creature. Too bad it came from the awkward tall figure before her, "Yes," her voice was firm. She had to speak with her boys soon or she wouldn't hear the end of it and time was closing in on her.

She had begged Tsunade not to mention the marriage treaty to her team, they would have put up a huge fit and refused to let her go. She was their only female member and she'd be damned if they were going to act like they had to protect her all the time. She was the first out of all of them to become chunin, and they hadn't even found out that she had become ANBU until seven months ago. That was pure hell in itself.

They had found out some of her worst secrets and they still protected her with all they had. Missing them would be missing a piece of her that she never wanted to leave behind. She had her heart in Konoha and, if being honest, she always would. But she knew that this treaty was necessary for Suna and that they needed good medical training. Perhaps she could work out a deal where she may return to Konoha from time to time? It was highly unlikely, but Suna was desperate for medical advancement, and Konoha had offered them their best who just so happened to be the Hokage's adoptive daughter.

She could probably work out a deal somewhere down the line. But Sakura already felt like she was pushing the boundaries bringing her "ferret" along for the journey and keeping him by her side seemed like it would back her into a corner. If it were a one or the other situation, she'd pick traveling Konoha in a heartbeat, but her mother would probably say otherwise. She had him ever since she had begun to train harder and knew that even though she would have to leave him eventually, it was nice knowing that he was always at her side.

She felt safe in his presence but knew she had to become more independent. She was to become a diplomat now and that was scary to think about. She needed her safety net, but knew she had to stand on her own two feet eventually.

Perhaps the Kazekage had changed. Perhaps she had heard rumors that were all true. Perhaps she could fall in love with this man who had women throwing themselves at him and kissing the ground he walked on. As like as he wasn't like _'him'_ and all was not lost. These were things that kept her up at night as of late and she definitely hated herself for it.

He held a quizzical glare at the joined hands of the future Kazekage's wife and this blond buffoon who wouldn't shut up while conversing with his comrades who stood outside of the palace, clearly forgetting that he was standing right there. The pinkette shrimp dropped Naruto's hand and followed him inside when he motioned for them to come inside. It had been quite the journey for all of them, traveling from Konoha to Suna in under seven hours, and not one of them even looked like they broke a sweat.

They were a lively bunch, alright. The pink haired one seemed to be the calmest and coldest of the group after the raven-haired man who looked like he was in a sour mood from the moment he had arrived.

It would be the end of him if anything were to go wrong between his Kazekage and the Hokage's only child. The guard couldn't shake the feeling that he had seen her somewhere before. He had left Suna only once, and that was to protect the Kazekage while he was visiting Konoha a little over a year ago. Had she been in Konoha during his stay? Why did he not remember the attitude coming from what seemed like a harmless fairy child? He remembered how she was considered to be the top medic in all of the five nations, so maybe he hadn't seen her before. But something about her reminded him of danger.

The group stopped in front of the Kazekage's office and the guard knocked on the door, hoping that he could catch his leader while he was in a good mood. He mentally crossed his fingers that all would go well.

"Come in."

Gaara had been dreading this moment, not that anyone besides his sister had caught on to, but it was certainly nerve-wracking that he had to accept a marriage to someone who was known as 'Konoha's Pink Spitfire'. Her temper was said to rival Tsunade's and that was frightening to think about. Not to mention that, from what he had understood, Naruto was unaware of their little arrangement. Fear was not something well known to the calm and reserved Kazekage, and he sure as hell was not going to let it overcome him.

The guard had opened the door and ushered the group of five into the awaiting Kazekage's office. Seafoam eyes landed on the pinkette and he noted he had seen her before. But where?

"Gaara!" Naruto called to his old friend, arms wide open for a hug. It was the typical Naruto greeting all had to endure but everyone knew it was not common to act this was with the Kazekage. The red-headed man was not one for physical contact, but for Naruto, he would gladly make the occasional exception. Note, occasional. Even he had his limits when it came to the blond.

"Welcome," came his soft tenor voice, he awkwardly hugged his friend back and quickly let go to assess the rest of the group before him. His eyes landed back on the sole woman of the group.

' _Shit.'_ He had remembered where he had seen her.

XOXOXO

After his encounter with her group all those years ago it was hard to forget the woman with pink hair. He had nearly killed her when they last met, at the chunin exams all those years ago. Her eyes were icy yet warm at the same time. It was almost as if she had a naturally warm personality but despised him.

There was no way he could go back in time and _not_ try to kill her, but he was damned if he didn't try to accommodate her in every way he could in order for this process to go smoothly. She was a female, and although Gaara was relatively clueless about the whole differing sex, well... he only knew stereotypes of women. His sister was definitely different than the women who threw themselves at him when he became Kazekage. He had worked so hard for their respect that he didn't know what to do with those women.

Maybe he would get lucky and she would have the same feelings towards him? Maybe all would go smoothly? Maybe it would all work out for the sake of the treaty. It was beneficial to both hidden villages but more so to Suna, who needed more resources and better medics. She was their ticket to that kind of help.

When the subject of a treaty had come up and there was a definite mention towards their medical knowledge, he had asked for the best medic Konoha could offer. He had no idea that the current Hokage would offer her only child. He expected some half-rate but seemingly much better medic who had no direct ties and whose knowledge and presence would be missed so much.

It was true that he wanted their best, which shouldn't have surprised him for Konoha to offer their best eligible medic, but something felt oddly suspicious. If the Hokage so freely gave up her daughter there was either some secret to come out and destroy someone or something much more sinister.

He prayed it wasn't the latter.

* * *

 **Whoa! I updated soooo much in so many stories! I love and am digging all the love and responses I'm getting! I have absolutely no idea what I would do without you guys and I'm always and forever be grateful for all of your love and support. In case you haven't noticed, I've created and uploaded a revised version of The Change, so hopefully it'll be brand new and it'll go over waaaay better than last time. I always try and keep my stories relatively short but they always end up going on longer than I had originally planned! Let's see where this one takes us next! As always, your reviews and encouragement are appreciated. Thanks again y'all!**

 **xoxo,**

 **Tiny**


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